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Fatwa CenterThe forms of pride and hypocrisy and the way to eliminate them
Question
Can you name all the forms of pride and hypocrisy and how one could eradicate them all from one self?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Pride and hypocrisy are dispraised characteristics which are not of the morals and conduct of the people of Eemanaa.
The Prophet defined pride saying: "It is to be arrogant toward the truth, and to deny people their rights." [Reported by Muslim]
These are two main characteristics of a person with pride: he rejects the truth and despises people. Other characteristics that such a person has can be encompassed within these two characteristics like refusing to acknowledge one's mistakes, and refusing to sit with poor people and so on.
As regards hypocrisy, it is of two kinds:
The first kind: Hypocrisy which is connected to belief, which is to conceal Kufr (disbelief) and to show Eeman (belief). This kind of hypocrisy takes the person out of the fold of Islam.
The second kind: This kind of hypocrisy is called pragmatic hypocrisy. It is to perform acts which are the characteristics of the hypocrites, like those mentioned in the Hadith. The Prophet said:
"There are four things if they are found in a person, then he is a real Munaafiq (hypocrite), and if one of them is found in a person, then there is a trait of hypocrisy in him until he leaves it: If he is entrusted, he cheats, if he speaks he lies, if he promises, he fails to keep his promise, and if he quarrels he uses obscene and immoral expressions." [Reported by Bukhari and Muslim]
With regard to how to treat pride and hypocrisy, it is by remembering the greatness of Allah, and by fearing His Punishment and severe Torture; in addition to remembering the bad fate of the people of pride and hypocrisy. So this could be a treatment for both characteristics.
However, pride has a treatment peculiar to it, which is that a person has to remember his origin, and that he is a weak creature, created from nothing and will become nothing. His beginning is a drop of sperm and his end is a rotten corpse, and, in his body, he carries excrements.
In addition to the above, one should remember the good fate of humble people who are beloved by Allah, they are the people who will be honored and given a high status, in addition to entering paradise.
The treatment peculiar to hypocrisy is to remember the fate of being truthful and sincere, and remember what Allah has prepared as permanent pleasure for the truthful people, and to think about what Allah has prepared as severe punishment for hypocrites.
Allah knows best.
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